Solenoid trip butterfly valve



1945' D. w. HOPKINS,

SOLENOID TRIP BUTTERFLY VALVE Filed Sept. 17, 1942 l I l I l I Patented Aug. 14, 1945 umrao STATES PATENT SOLENOID TRIP BUTTERFLY move David: W. Hopkins, Philadelphia mn Application September 17,1942, serrarive tssmsl 3 Claims; (=01. 13 -1249 Thisinvention relates, to solenoid trip butterfly valves.

There are many installations of. valves which require aquick and positive valve operation upon the happening of a certain contingency, such as the failing of a power supply, or the closing of a switch or the like. In some instances,- the point of control is. quite remote from the valve itself, and a positive and certainfunctioning of the valve i'srequired.

It is among, the objects of this invention; to improvegenerally the art ofvalves; to provide a solenoid trip valve of positive and prompt functioning; to provide a valve and solenoid trip assembly such that. the failure of the power line to the solenoid causes positive actuation of the valve; to provide a compact unit of solenoid and valve actuating members arranged: for mounting operatively upon the torque shaft of a valve to control'same; to utilize the relatively short stroke of a solenoid core with an automatic valve operator; and, many other objects and advantages will become more apparent as the description procoeds;

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this description,

' Fig; 1' represents a front elevation of the assembled'valve. and solenoid assembly.

Fig; Zrepresentsai side elevation" of the'same', and

Fig. 3 represents a perspective" of the same;

The preferred embodiment of the" valve is a butterfly valve having a shaft to which torque is applied to: swing the butterfly'vane between open and closed positions. A weight is mounted on the end of-an arm spiined to-the shaft to develop the necessary torque through gravity; while a second arm? is asymmetrically pivoted close to the axis of the shaft and has. a short pawl or d'etent endwith a finger or dog engaging in a locking hub; also keyed" on the vane" shaft, and" which finger isnormally held in locking position by the solenoid'core'whioh is pivoted to the second men tioned' arm between its pivot and its weight.

The valve; which may be of any desired sort which' i's'controlled' by torqueapplied to a shaft, but which is preferablya butterflyvalve; comprises a' cylindrical housing H) havingfront and rear attaching flanges. I1 and f2 respectively, as

is common inisuch valves. A boss I3 having an aperture to receive a stub shaft Hf is provided in the housing as a support for thevan'e on one side of the. flow passage in housing "Land diametrically opposite thereto an apertured boss ['5 is provided toreceivethe main vane torque shaft 16'. The, butterfly vane IT of they valve preferably has either a diametrically continuous. boss,

or a pair of alignedloppositely extending bosses wand 20', suitably apertured to receive the ends of the respective shafts I4 and [8, with boss 20 suitably secured-to the shaft l-B so that the vane and shaft turn together The flanges- 1 l and 12 of the valve have flattened bossesellto: which the supporting; plate 22 is secured and the latter supportsthe solenoid mounting. plate. 23 The solenoidv 24 iscarriedby the plate 23 so-that its axis is parallel to plate 22 and normaltothe axis of the shaft it, which latter extends outwardly of and through the plate 22 as indicated in Figs. 1. and3. The. solenoid Mhas-afloaizingcore 25-, the lower end of which is preferably mushroomed as at 26, and is-formed with a lower recessZ'L. with.- in which the upper. end 28 of a link 3l'l-is pivoted, as at 3t. The pivot 31 is 50- arranged that the link can swing in a plane normal: to the. axis of the'shaft it. The. wiring andcontrol of the solenoid itself will be in. accordance with the: necessities of the installation, and. preferably in the usual course will be energized so as to. hold the core in during allnormal usesoi the system, and be arranged for deenergizationz when the power fails, so that the core drops out.

The torque shaft lfi of the valve carries either at single continuoushub oreand preferably,-a pair of parallel similar apertured hubs, respectively a torque hub 32 and; a detent hub 33, with the latter generally aligned with the path of swingof the link. 30. The torque hub 32,. preferably next to the valve housing, carries an. integral lever. arm 34' upon which a weight 35 is preferably adjustably mounted toward the levers free end. The leverage is preferably such that under the influence of gravity alone the released. arm and weight 34 and. 35 will exert sufli'cient torque on the shaft was to positively actuate the valve in the desired direction. Illustratively, the valve is normally open, with the weight 35' and arm. raised, as shown in. Fi 2, and the dropping thereof moves. the valve toward closed. Obvious-1 1y, however, the valve may be normally closed, and. be arranged for opening. upon the dropping of the torque weight. In this connection also, it will,. ofv course,.be evident that the valvemovement. need not. be toward a position either. fully open or fully closed as a. mere variation in flow may be desired. The lever 31 and weight 35 to gether constitute a. handle device by which the normal, setting of the valve itself may be expeditiously accomplished. To indicate the actual position of the valve, a pointer 36 is carried'by the lever hub preferably diametrically opposite to the arm 34, to sweep, the arcuate scale or indie cator 31 to continuously bear upon orlie'ov'er the graduation representative of the degree of valve opening. e

The detent hub 33; which" as noted iskeyedtjo the torque shaft in predetermined fixed angular relation. to the hub 32 andth'e' lever and weight connected" thereto; or maybe a mereaxiarprm longation of hub 32, if desired, has a holding recess or opening 38. A fulcrum stud 40 is mounted rigidly upon the supporting plate 22, and its free end substantially overlies the detent hub 33. IA. detent arm 4| is J'ournaled asymmetrically upon the stud 40, close to one end of the arm, and the'latter end; terminates in a downwardly directed pawl or detent member or finger 42 arranged to engage within the detent or holding recess 38 when th arm 4| is suitably raised on the other side of the pivot 40 from the pawl end. A detent weight 43 is mounted, preferably adjustably, upon the free end of the arm 4|. The lower end of the solenoid link 30 is pivotally connected as at 44 to the detent arm 4|, between the fulcrum 40 and weighty43, in such manner that with the solenoid energized the core is pulled in, and thus'the link 30 israise'd; raising and maintaining the weight 43 and arm 4| in an elevated position, while the pawl finger 42 engages-and remains in locking-engagement with the dctentrecess' 38 of the detent hub 33, andthe shaft I6 is thus prevented from turning.

In this functioning of the lever assembly just described, the lever arm 4| is a lever of the third class, with the fulcriun at the pivot-40, the weight at 43 and the' power at 44-. "It will be 'clear that in the preferred embodiment disclosed, the third class lever cannot function to raise the weight 43, or to hold it raised, untilafter the torque shaft l6 has been turned far enough to raise the torque weight 35 and arm 34 to the desired angular position, when the valve is in the desired set position in which it is to be maintained during the time of excitation of the solenoid coil. The setting of the valve isa prerequisite to establishment of the requiredpredetermined angular setting of the detent hub at a point such that the detent recess 38 is aligned with the pawl end 42 of the lever 4| as will be clear.

Any suitable stop means may be resorted to as stops or abutments tolimit the'swingsofthe respective arms and levers on theirpivots, as will be understood. f

With the valve manually set to raise the Weight 35,":andwith the solenoid suitably energizedso as raise the core and thus apply power to raise the Weight 43 of the third class lever disclosed, the pawl end 42 of the detent lever will enter the recess and hold the hub and thus the torque shaftagainstrotationiunderthe influence of the weight 35. Up on failure of the power supply to the solenoid or upon 'switch controlled tripping thereof, the power applied to the third class lever fails,-as the core drops out by gravity and the link 30 moves down by gravity, because of the pull of thedetent weight 43. The latter now energizes the lever 4| as a lever of the first class and swings about the fulcrumiormed bythe pivot 40 and withdraws the detent 42 from "recess' 38 of the detent hub, Thisthenpermits the weight 35, working through, lever '34, to swing the torque shaft. ,|6 automatically to actuate the valve as will be clear. The arrangements of weights and fulcrums shown is preferred, although not being essential 'l'he preference is due to the fact that the stroke of the solenoid is comparatively short and at its extreme lower end is rather weak, so that the lever arrangement shownis most efficient fo'r'the purpose.

It will be understood that the assembly of supporting plates, 23 and 22, solenoid 24, links. 30, lever arm 4| and weight 43, and'its pivot, arm 34 and weight 35 and integral'or separate hubs ,32 and 33 may be formed as a separateunit for at:

axially with the torque shaft having a portion disposed axially beyond and in fixed relation to the arm and having a stop recess, a lever arm,

'zmeans extending parallel to the torque shaft pivotally supportingv the lever arm for movement in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of movement of the said Weight arm, a weight on the lever arm on one side of the pivot thereof, a weight on the weight arm'adjacent to butlateraliy spaced from thesaid weight on said lever arm, a pawl carried by the other endof the lever arm'in position to engage said recess, a solenoid having a movable core, means supporting the solenoid in fixed relation to said pivot, and a link engaging the core of the solenoid and the lever arm and upholdingthe lever arm and its'weight during solenoid energization, said first mentioned weighted arm being free to fall with the rotation of the torque shaft'when the deenergizti'on of the solenoid permitsthe lever arm to pivot "and remove the pawl from the recess, the arrangement of stop recess, hub, and pawl being such that the lever arm cannot be reset until the valvehas first been repositioned. 1

2. A valve mechanism comprising the combination of a valve having a torque shaft, a support on the.valve,.a solenoid having a heating core lying in a plane normal to the torque shaft, a hub secured on the torque shaft and, having a detent recess, a stud on the support forming a pivot, a lever asymmetrically pivoted on the stud and having a detent finger in positionto engage and disengage the detent recess a weight on the lever, a link connecting the core of the solenoid to the lever between the pivot and. the weight, and the} whole so arranged that energization of the solenoid maintains the engagement of the detent and recess, a torque creating agency coupled with the shaft and arranged toQactute the shaft in a given directionfrom a condition of rest when the [solenoid is deenergized.

3. A valve mechanism comprising the combination of a valve having a torque shaftfa support on the valve, a solenoid having a floating core the axis of which lies in a plane normal to the torque shaft and having two conditions one of which is during energization and the other of which is during deenergization, a hub secured on the torque shaft and having a detent recess, a stud on the support forming a pivot, a lever pivotedon the stud andhaving a detent in position to engage and disengage the detent recess, a weight on the lever, said weight and lever arranged to urge the detent out of the recess, a link connecting the core of the solenoid to the 1ever, and the whole being so arranged that'with the solenoid in one-condition the engagementof the detent and recess is maintained inopposition to said urge, atorque creating agency coupled with the shaft axially ofi-set from the detent recess of the hub and arranged to actuate the shaft in a given direction from a condition of rest when the solenoid is changed tofits other condition by permitting said urge to functionto separate the detent and recess.

' HOPKINS.,' 

